Success for CityWest Homes’ aids and adaptations service

CityWest Homes is dramatically improving the quality of life for residents with physical difficulties by cutting the waiting times for its aids and adaptations service as well as increasing resident satisfaction.

The building and property services team which installs mobility equipment and carries out home alterations for residents, has seen waiting times for urgent works halved in the past three years from 13 weeks to six weeks.

The time for non-urgent works to be completed has also fallen from 19 weeks to seven in the same period. So far in 2010, the building and property services team of five staff has more than trebled the number of adaptations carried out.

From the most recent resident satisfaction survey, the service has been rated five out of five by 70 per cent of recipients, with 97 per cent of residents scoring the service three out of five or above.

Rowena Ng, senior performance officer in the building and property services team said: “I’ve worked in this area for over 20 years and I’m disabled myself which means I have an empathy and understanding of the importance of this work. We all find the job tremendously rewarding and always monitor our service to look for ways to improve. Adaptations can transform people’s lives, giving them back their independence and greatly improving their mobility and quality of life.

“We have dramatically cut the referral times and increased tenant satisfaction with the service by listening to our tenants and acting on their recommendations. We monitor our tenants at every stage of the process to make sure they are included and informed about what is going on.”

The team provide a range of services for residents of CityWest Homes who require assistance to remain in their own homes. The aids and adaptations help residents carry out everyday tasks, such as cooking and bathing, which would be difficult without specialised modifications or equipment.

The team’s work includes fitting equipment such as ramps, hoists and stairlifts as well as carrying out home alterations to enable residents to remain mobile in their properties.

The CityWest Homes building and property services team works closely with Westminster Council’s social and community services to provide a joined up service to residents.

The adaptation process begins with an initial referral from Westminster Council which arranges for the resident to be visited by an occupational therapist who assesses their circumstances and individual needs.

The CityWest Homes team’s performance is measured at the point of referral and the team is set a challenging target of ensuring that work starts within 12 weeks of referral for non-urgent work and six weeks for urgent works.

With an average of one adaptation completed a day, 2009/2010 is on course to be a record year in terms of adaptations completed and resident’s satisfaction with the service.

Since April 2009 the building and property services team has been taking part in a national ALMO benchmarking club with housing consultancy HouseMark which aims to share best practice with other housing organisations around the country.